α. 1800s– schnits, 1800s– schnitz, 1800s– shnits, 1800s– shnitz, 1800s– snits, 1800s– snitz.
β. 1900s– snit.
Also with capital initial.schnitzn.
/ʃnɪts/, U.S. /ʃnɪts/ Chiefly U.S. regional (chiefly Pennsylvania).
Slices or pieces of fruit, esp. dried apple. Also (in form snit): a slice or piece of such fruit.Also with modifying word specifying the kind of fruit, as apple schnitz.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > [noun] > piece or slice of fruit
chip1654
schnitz1829
1829 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 9 July The table was spread with smoked geese, saur kraut, krollers, schnitz, snapdragons, and all those elegant delicacies in which the good Santiclaus, and our Dutch ancestors rejoiced.
1849 Littell's Living Age 8 Sept. 468/1 A gouté was served out, which consisted of..a couple of ounces of strong-tasted gruyère, or a plateful of schnitz (cuttings of dried apples, pears, and plums).
1941 A. M. Aurand Where to Dine in Penna. ‘Dutch’ Region 26/1 Those attending meetings are fed on ‘moon pies’. The lower crust is rolled out to the usual pie-plate size, one-half covered with apple snitz (dried apples) and the uncovered part of the crust laid up over the ‘contents’.
1968 Morgantown (W. Va.) Post 20 Nov. 12/6 We would have apple pie all winter made of the snits.
2013 W. W. Weaver As Amer. as Shoofly Pie 183 Some people added dried cherries to their Schnitz or cooked it up with dried pears instead of apples.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1829